


and once the truth's revealed

by EthelPhantom



Series: Ethel's Daminette December 2019 [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: "He's just a friend", Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Daminette December, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Luka Couffaine is a great friend, MariBat, Marinette you're fooling exactly no one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:02:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21632626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EthelPhantom/pseuds/EthelPhantom
Summary: Luka stopped where he was massaging his forehead and, lowering his hand enough for her to see his eyes, he raised his eyebrow. “Did you— Did you just say Damian isjust a friend? Did I get that right?Pleasetell me I didn’t hear that right.”In which Marinette is being dumb and Luka has the job of an exasperated best friend.Daminette December 2019, day 1: Just a friend
Relationships: Luka Couffaine & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne
Series: Ethel's Daminette December 2019 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559191
Comments: 17
Kudos: 427
Collections: Damian Wayne / Marinette Dupain-Cheng





	and once the truth's revealed

**Author's Note:**

> ...I have officially sunk into the depths of Maribat and will stay there, so here I am, ready to take part in Daminette December. I will be drawing some of the prompts and some of them I'll just skip, but I will link the art pieces here to the next prompt I write, so well. I will also be posting all of them to my tumblr, so you can just as well find everything there. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Also, yes, I'm projecting on Luka because I confessed to my best friend, got rejected and have a few times asked her about her crushes afterwards because she's still my friend and I'm not letting my own feelings get between that, just so you know. It doesn't really even hurt at this point, and it's been only a little over a month.)

“But Marinette, just the way you look at him—”

“But what? Luka, I love you and you’re my best friend and all but you’re gravely mistaken here”, Marinette said, interrupting her friend. She sighed and crossed her arms on her chest, frustrated out of her mind at Luka. 

Why would he say she liked Damian? He was a good friend and Marinette loved spending time with him, but she didn’t think of him as more than that, surely. It wasn't like she wanted to know what it would be like to walk hand in hand whenever they were out on town without it being an awkward ordeal, or what his lips tasted like or felt like against her own, or what it would be like to show him off to her parents and then proceed get embarrassed by both of them because especially her papa always asked weird questions from anyone he thought might start dating her. 

“Look, Mari, I know you don’t want to admit to your feelings after how it went with Adrien, and after finding out I liked you and you had to reject me, but he could make you really happy. All I want is your happiness, and if you find it with him, I support you. Besides, I accepted you don’t like me ages ago, you don’t need to be so careful about it. It’s fine”, Luka said sighing and put his hand on Marinette’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly. “Seriously, ask anyone and they’ll tell you that you look at Damian like he hung the stars and the moon. Even _Kagami_ has seen it, and you know how she is with this. Chloé kept complaining about you being so oblivious for like an hour to us without taking a single breath, I swear.”

Marinette shook her head. No, she really did not like him, she was sure. Damian was amazing and always took her feelings into account, even if he didn’t always express it very well. And unlike her classmates, he actually defended her and stayed on her side even after Lila tried to interfere with things. No — he had, three seconds flat after Lila tried to get him wrapped in her web of lies as well, shot her down, told her to leave him and Marinette alone, said he couldn't have cared less about her obvious lies and then led her away to talk somewhere more quiet.

The only one in the class that she knew was on her side was Chloé, and since even that was a rather recent development, she wasn’t sure what to think of it always. 

(She did scoff at Lie-la, Alya and the rest of the class the week before and told them to pull their heads out from where the sun doesn’t shine so there was that joy, Marinette had to admit. If someone had told her a few years back she’d actually be friends with Chloé fucking Bourgeouis, or that she would have appreciated her in any sense without being sarcastic, she would have laughed at their face. Now she was actually happy about it and wouldn’t change it for the world.)

And sure, she loved hearing Damian laugh. It was rare, it was really, really rare, but even so it happened sometimes, and she loved it. It wasn’t even the “You’re an imbecile and I’m superior to you” kind of laughter he apparently had according to Jason, but the “I’m laughing because I genuinely enjoy being with you and that was funny” kind of laughter. 

“No, it’s not like that”, she then said, only to earn a frustrated groan from Luka who ran a hand down his face.

“Mari I swear—”, Luka began before he buried his head in his hands. “Okay, let’s put it this way. By what nickname does he call you again?”

“...Angel.”

“Now, how does it make you feel like?”

“Happy and warm. It’s nice when he does it.”

“Alright. Then, if I were to call you that regularly, how would you feel about it?”

“It would be kind of weird since you never do it but I wouldn’t tell you to stop.”

“And how about Tim? You two are close friends, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, we are. I think he’s done it a few times, too. He did it when we met for the first time anyway.”

“So, how was it? Was it the same as with Damian?”

“Well, it was nice, I suppose, but no, it wasn’t… Why?”

“Damian called you that when you met for the first time, right?”

“Yeah? Then he stopped until he did it again after we’d known each other for some time and Jason tried to steal the nickname.”

“So, did it feel the same as it did when you met Tim — or Jason, apparently, why wasn’t I aware of this — for the first time?”

“No, but like— Luka, stop that. Seriously, you questioning me about nicknames they have for me won’t get you anything. He’s just a friend!”

Luka stopped where he was massaging his forehead and, lowering his hand enough for her to see his eyes, he raised his eyebrow. “Did you— Did you just say Damian is _just a friend_ ? Did I get that right? _Please_ tell me I didn’t hear that right.”

The doubtful, disbelieving look in Luka’s eyes made Marinette want to back away slowly and then flee. It was concerning since Luka wasn’t like this often. Only when one of their friend group was being more dense and stupid than usually. “Yes…?”

“Marinette Jiaying Dupain-Cheng _I swear_ —”

“Not my second name.”

“ _I’ll use whatever I want as your second name when I need to young lady—_ Marinette Jiaying Dupain-Cheng I swear to god if you say that god forbidden sentence one more time, I’m going to hand you over to Chloé and Kagami without hesitation.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“Fucking test me.”

“ _Gasp_ I’m going to tell Dick you swore in front of me.”

Luka sighed and shook his head before looking Marinette in the eyes again. “Mari, you know how Adrien finally got a clue and figured out he did, in fact, have a crush on you after you’d already decided you no longer liked him?”

Marinette looked at Luka with confusion. What was he talking about, she really didn’t understand. “Uhh… yes?”

“Well, the reason he never realised it in time was because he _kept telling himself you were just a friend_.”

He was right, that’s what she remembered hearing from Adrien a few too many times, but this wasn’t the same thing at all. She’d gone out of her way for him so many times, tried to make him happy by sacrificing her own happiness, listened to him every time he wanted to tell her something, supported him with everything, and he still hadn’t realised she liked him — or that at some point, he started liking her. It wasn’t nearly the same thing with her and Damian… _right_?

Except that it kind of was. 

Now that she thought about it, it was _exactly_ what Damian was doing. He went out of his way for her when she asked for help, sometimes even when she didn’t ask for it and rather told him not to do it because she felt like she didn’t deserve it. She had just thought it was a trait born from being the son of the richest man on earth, nothing more. She felt kind of like a jerk for thinking that now. No better than Adrien and his endless obliviousness, at least.

He supported her and her dreams and even tried to help her find ways to achieve said dreams. He listened to her endless ramblings until it got too late and he either had to leave or he told her to go to sleep. It was another thing if she actually went to sleep after it, but Marinette appreciated the concern anyway. 

Oh. 

What was happening now was definitely a lot like it was back then, though she wasn’t sure if he liked her that way. The possibility he didn’t was a little painful and she felt a stab in her heart. Besides, what kind of a friend actually thought about and wanted to know how it would be like to kiss another friend if they were nothing more than that?

“ _Oh._ ”

Luka shook his head and smiled at her as she proceeded to lose her mind over it. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“But Luka, _what do I do now_? What if I lose my ability to talk in front of him? Or what if I ruin our friendship? Or—”

“Mari, calm down. You’re gonna be fine. He’s still the same Damian. Maybe you could just tell him how you feel, and then when he knows, you’ll either start dating and he’ll make you happy, or he’ll reject you, you’ll stay friends and you can start moving on. He won't hate you for liking him, nor would he be so shallow that he ended your friendship over it. You’re gonna be just fine.”

Marinette bit her lip before returning the smile. “Thank you, Luka. You’re amazing, I couldn’t ask for a better friend.”

With one swift pull, Luka had her in a tight hug. He squeezed her and replied with an amused snicker, “I try my best.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can pry Chloé, Kagami, Marinette and Luka's friendship out of my cold, dead hands. 
> 
> I hope you liked this! I certainly enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Do come scream at me on my [tumblr](https://ethelphantom.tumblr.com/) if you want to!


End file.
